{"id":66054,"date":"2019-06-10T19:38:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T03:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=66054"},"modified":"2019-06-12T18:45:44","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T02:45:44","slug":"move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/","title":{"rendered":"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

If\nyou\u2019ve been to the personal growth section of your local bookstore lately, it\u2019s\nlikely you\u2019ve seen books written on the topic of mindfulness. It\u2019s become a bit\nof a buzz word. The concept of mindfulness has to do with being focused, paying\nattention, considering your environment and the people in it when making\nchoices for you and your life. Sounds good, right? What\u2019s wrong with thinking\nabout things and people other than yourself? While there is nothing wrong with\nmindfulness, it is not without flaws and limitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness\nrequires the individual to work hard continuously. It requires a constant state\nof being alert, observing everyone and everything, because the moment you stop\npaying attention is the moment things get missed. You practice mindfulness so\nyou don\u2019t miss things but the moment you lose focus you miss things so then you\ntry harder not to miss things which only makes you miss things even more.\nExhausted yet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have been practicing\nmindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that\nis required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite\nyou to look at awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awareness is something you are\nborn with. It is the ability to perceive and know all things. It\u2019s the ability\nto be totally present with who and what is right in front of you while still\nmaintaining awareness of the environment around you. Awareness doesn\u2019t require\nyou to focus only on one thing. It\u2019s doesn\u2019t force you to work hard to pay\nattention. Awareness invites it all, includes it all, welcomes it all without\njudging or cutting off anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my top three tips to go beyond mindfulness and function from the gift of your awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be willing to see what is<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe are born into the world, most of us are taught to judge. We learn what is\n\u201cgood\u201d and what is \u201cbad.\u201d We are told to do what is right and avoid what is\nwrong. When you have a judgment of anything, your brain only allows information\nthat matches that judgment to enter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness often comes from the place of only looking to see what\u2019s good and right with others and in the world. The problem with this, is that even though it\u2019s positive, it\u2019s still judgment. If there is a poisonous snake in front of you and you have decided you must only see good, then you will not see the danger that is present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To move beyond mindfulness and into awareness, you can use a tool called \u201cInteresting point of view.\u201d Every time you notice that you have a judgment, whether positive or negative, say to yourself, \u201cInteresting point of view I have that point of view.\u201d Keep saying it until things lighten up. What occurs when you say these words is that every judgment you have becomes simply interesting rather than real and true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be aware of what your choices create<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness\noperates from the assumption that there are right choices and wrong choices. From\nthe place of mindfulness, you observe, judge what is best and then choose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awareness has no judgment. Awareness includes everything and judges nothing. When you function from awareness you ask, \u201cWhat would I like to choose?\u201d And, \u201cIf I choose this what will it create?\u201d Awareness is about empowering you to choose and then to notice what your choice created and then choose again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you don\u2019t have to be right, you get to be free<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look\nback for a moment, at times in your life where you knew if you made a\nparticular choice it was going to turn out badly, but you chose it anyway. That\nknowing was your awareness. Often times, what occurs, is we have an awareness\nand then we go to our brain, to our cognitive mind, to try and sort it out.\nThis is where we give up our awareness in an attempt to get it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nyou start to look at the places in your life where you chose to try and figure\nthings out rather than going with that instantaneous knowing, then you start to\nreconnect with your awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you\nlook at these places, it\u2019s not about making you wrong. It\u2019s about acknowledging\nwhat the choice to cut off your awareness created so that you can choose\ndifferent as you move forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awareness is the greatest gift\nyou have and, rather than hard work and striving, awareness comes with ease.\nChoose awareness and discover the joyfulness of life and living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gary Douglas <\/a>is an\ninternationally-recognized thought leader, bestselling author, business\ninnovator and founder of <\/em>Access Consciousness<\/em><\/a>\u00ae<\/sup><\/em>, a set of simple-yet-profound tools currently\ntransforming lives in 173 countries. He has authored and co-authored numerous\nbooks, including the Barnes and Noble #1 bestselling novel, The Place. An\navid investor and entrepreneur, Gary is a vocal advocate of\nBenevolent Capitalism and conscious leadership. He has been featured on TV\nshows, and in print media and online publications around the world. He is\nrenowned for his unique insights on love, relationships, money, business,\naging, leadership and emotional freedom. Follow <\/em>Gary<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been to the personal growth section of your local bookstore lately, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve seen books written on the topic of mindfulness. It\u2019s become a bit of a buzz word. The concept of mindfulness has to do with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13404,"featured_media":66056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[9,5,6],"tags":[6982,1657,7091,1985,306,3029,139],"yoast_head":"\nMove Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-11T03:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-13T02:45:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Douglas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1616},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/\",\"name\":\"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-11T03:38:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-13T02:45:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/05d362efde3cd074d0cbed199027dff1\"},\"description\":\"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/05d362efde3cd074d0cbed199027dff1\",\"name\":\"Gary Douglas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71242366ad111ecfee08f3e19ffaf91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71242366ad111ecfee08f3e19ffaf91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gary Douglas\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/gary-douglas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful","description":"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful","og_description":"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2019-06-11T03:38:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-13T02:45:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1616,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gary Douglas","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/simon-migaj-421505-unsplash.jpg","width":2560,"height":1616},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/","name":"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-06-11T03:38:58+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-13T02:45:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/05d362efde3cd074d0cbed199027dff1"},"description":"If you have been practicing mindfulness, you may know how much work it is to keep the level of focus that is required. If you would like something easier, something greater, I invite you to look at awareness.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/move-beyond-mindfulness-why-awareness-is-more-powerful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Move Beyond Mindfulness: Why Awareness is More Powerful"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/05d362efde3cd074d0cbed199027dff1","name":"Gary Douglas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71242366ad111ecfee08f3e19ffaf91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71242366ad111ecfee08f3e19ffaf91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gary Douglas"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/gary-douglas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}